Airline ticket agent 'plays prank', customers are listless at the airport

At Da Nang airport on the evening of February 10, many passengers had to sit in front of the airline representative counters to register for last-minute tickets. There were cases where passengers had successfully paid for tickets through agents for the flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Da Nang before Tet, but the return flight was "not listed in the system".

Holding the ticket code in hand is not necessarily true.

This is a situation that many customers encounter when buying tickets through airline ticket agents. Even though they have the full ticket code in hand, they still cannot complete the procedure successfully due to the fake ticket code.

The family of Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Ha (from Quang Nam) consisting of 3 people on a Vietnam Airlines flight from Da Nang to Ho Chi Minh City on the evening of February 10 (the 6th day of Tet) encountered a situation where they paid in full, had the ticket code in hand but still could not complete the procedures.

Ms. Ha said that 2 months before Tet, she booked tickets through an airline ticket agent for her family of 3 on the route from Ho Chi Minh City to Da Nang and vice versa with a ticket price of nearly 20 million VND.

Ms. Ha said she had paid the agent in full, and to be more careful, she called Vietnam Airlines' hotline to confirm that the ticket was real.

Being 'tricked' by an airline ticket agent, a customer was left stranded at Da Nang airport on the evening of February 10.

The procedure from Ho Chi Minh City to Da Nang was smooth, but on the return flight on the evening of February 10, there was a problem: all 3 members of Ms. Ha's family were not listed in Vietnam Airlines' system, while the booking code when looking up on the airline's website still showed each person's name.

"The airline refused to check in because the name was not in the system and confirmed that the airline agent had refunded the ticket, so when looking up the information, there was absolutely no name of the passenger on this flight. Whether or not you can buy a ticket from Da Nang to Ho Chi Minh City requires you to register for a last-minute ticket. However, the airline representative at the airport said the situation was very tense, there were passengers waiting from morning to night but still did not have a last-minute ticket to go" - Ms. Ha said.

It is known that at the Vietnam Airlines ticket counter at Da Nang airport on the evening of February 10, many passengers jostled to register and waited to buy last-minute tickets to fly...Most passengers who came to the representative counter were "tricked" by the airline ticket agent at the beginning of the year when they were sent a ticket code but it was only a hold ticket, and they had not yet paid the airline.

Many people waited so long that they had to use strollers and rest their chins on their suitcases, waiting for the "luck" to get a last-minute ticket to fly. Some people waited from morning to night and still did not get a ticket, while flights after Tet were always fully booked.

Check your ticket information carefully before going to the airport.

A representative of Vietnam Airlines at Da Nang airport said that February 10 marks the beginning of the peak season for passengers from the Central provinces to the South.Working after Tet so air travel at Da Nang airport is quite stressful.

According to this person, many passengers arrived at the airport early in the morning but could not complete the procedures because they bought tickets from a "fake" airline agent. Small, opportunistic agents make customers suffer when they arrive at the airport but cannot fly. Every Tet holiday, recently, more sophisticated "fake" agents have appeared, setting up websites and companies to sell airline tickets to gain customers' trust.

"After taking the customer's money, this "fake" agent removed the phone number, closed the website, and cut off all communication, leaving the customer stranded at the airport and unable to fly," he said.

Mr. Thang - an airline ticket agent in Ho Chi Minh City said that some small agents will take advantage of the feature that allows payment for airline tickets within 24 hours of booking to create "fake" booking codes to send to customers, then not pay the airline.

More sophisticatedly, many subjects still make payments and issue tickets to customers, but then refund or cancel the tickets to receive the entire ticket purchase amount and only lose a small fee.

"Passengers should buy tickets on websites, agents, official ticket offices and request invoices to ensure they do not buy fake tickets or get overpriced tickets..." - Vietnam Airlines representative recommends.

The demand for people to return to work in Ho Chi Minh City after Tet by air has increased, causing airports to be crowded with passengers.

Tan Son Nhat International Airport said that February 10 was the peak day for passenger travel demand returning to Ho Chi Minh City after the Tet holiday, with about 890 takeoffs and landings at the airport.